[Oxymoron]

Ah! "To Prepare or Not to Prepare"! Well guys can vouchsafe for Rajesh a.k.a "Life and Nothing more" cos he is my college mate and knew how "serious" he was for CAT But the point is Rajesh your case is an exception...it's an irrefutable fact that more than IQ luck also plays a major part on the D-day...things have to click irrespective of your preparation or lack of it....so d00d exceptions don't make the rule..in fact it seldom does! Though one may "have it in him/her" preparation always helps. Just my 2p.

[the STIFFmaester]

in some ways , Rajesh is right . I know quite a few people who got calls ( some of them even multiple calls ) , without any serious preparation . But I stand by my opinion that the best way to crack CAT is by preparing well and taking a lot of tests . Agreed , quite a few people may have done well without preparation , but Im pretty sure that the number of such people among the total no. of people getting calls is a small fraction . Sure , things like luck and mental- toughness do have a very significant role to play . But without a strong foundation and solid practise , most people will find themselves directionless on C-day .
So as Navjot Singh Sidhu would say , " BETTER TO PREVENT AND PREPARE , THAN REPENT AND REPAIR " .

Nikhil

[Alucard]

one point i wd like to add here.. prep for me was givng 20 tests seriously and analysing them.. so i am not sure which category i fit into.. but yeah being mentally prepared for something does not mean that it is not the real u who cracked something.. being mentally prepared is something one shd always try to do... of course.. life will try to derail that prep :P

[satanincarnate]

good post chandoo .. i read thru the whole of it .. was really interesting!
as for preparing, i guess a little bit of it is necessary to fine-tune some topics and formulating some strategy after identifying ur weaknesses and working on them
if you have no weakness as such so far as CAT pattern is concerned then no prep may help

[strike_high]

What was that !!!

I always felt that that I had done quite a lot of preparation for CAT.But Chandoo makes me feel as if my preparation was peanuts in front of him . 50 Mock CATs.... never thought of so many...

Its really a mind booster. Had read a lot of such articles previously (Article ???couldn't find another name for it..) but this was different in the sense that it was written by a person who was involved rather than a 3rd person just giving tips on how to crack CAT.

Great repository for those giving CAT 2004 , particularly for picking up small-small ideas that make big difference later on.

Chandoo , please post your CAT result (Percentile break up section wise) , no. of calls received , and an analysis (if possible) to complete this article.....

For other members who believe in doing it in those 2 hours , I accept that everyone has got his own way of doing it best. But I feel that it is better to be prepared (Though the level of preparation varies ). Anyway Would love read your experiences of belling CAT on the first shot.

[snan]

Originally Posted by Life and Nothing More!

Well!
But..er........that raises the BIGGEST question!
Is it really necessary to prepare for CAT?
Am no kidding here guys.......
Its been my belief that CAT is just an aptitude test and it requires no preparation!

So.......DONT PREPARE!

Rajesh

Half of your belief MIGHT be jus about correct...tht CAT tests ur aptitude.....(well thts again debatable!!but thn ill leave it for another day !!)..


"and requires no preparation......."..now here is where the issue arises....unless ur extra ordinarily intelligent CAt requires preps..even if ur extraordinarily intelligent unless CAT is one amongst a host of options, U need preps !!....the probability of success is always increased by preps...
Even till last year i belonged to the group of No need of preps for CAT ....did well enuff in VA and ok in Quant...Did 9 Qs in Di for a % of around 60 !!!.....thts whn i realised tht preparations/test taking/analysis of test/strategy etc are of paramount importance and not just aptitude... i also know of a batchmate who came to know tht the next day was CAT whn we were watching Dil Se movie the evening before..the next morning we woke him and pushed him to write..he got all calls.... ..ofcourse he didnt go foir any interviews..he's presently doing PhD in US after MS frm IISc.....but thn those are the rare "thingies"...i treat such beings as negligible for all I care !!

On a more philosophical level, i guess people who preps and cracks can "internalise" their success best and learn frm tht as well as take inspiration frm tht in the future...For eg:- Chandoo can get inspiration frm this sucess for future endeavours since he's internalised the success process and believe in his ability to work hard across and above difficulties/challenges....(Do i "smell" of Stepehen Covey ??heheh...i know i DO..but i believe in him !!)

cheers

suhas

DO PREP !!!!

[abhi_jain]

Hi Chandoo! after reading all those praises and hearing so much from others abt your experience me too decide to check it out today...

It was a marvel :smilecol: the way you went about :snipersm: for CAT.

Your experience is hell affa guide for us s

Me will definitely try and follow ur advice . But right now (these couple of days) I am .

Keep up the good work as a mod and me hoping that you get to the best of IIMs .

[kalcandu]

Hi Chandoo!!

Urs was a really enlightening one.
Today people sign up fo r cat just for a whim or fancy.ur post has shown that it takes real slog to get to the top. wishing u all the very best for ur future.
when nothing works remember that cat is not life !!!

[Psychodementia]

Chandoo.......I will try to sound different.......your post sucks big time !!

he he he just trying to be "different", "thoda hatke" as most hindi movie/music directors would say about their movies/songs.

You were the first guy I called when I knew the CAT results were out. And you know that you were the first (or the second depending on if Garfield's cell was busy ) I'd call up after each AIMCAT.

Dood, you are dedication, dilligence, perseverance .......... all the "good words in the dictionary" personified. You are the guy my mom would have wanted to exchange for me

Hell, infact even if you didn't go for an MBA, I would still think you are a winner.

Arun

PS: BTW Channe ke jhaadh pe chad gaya toh uttar ja bete.............

[Zarine]

I was browsing through my mail box,came across few mails I use to treasure as a CAT Aspirant.They were posted by Arun (Psychodementia,if i'm not mistaken?) in the CAT 2k2 group.

These mssgs were posted in June.Heck,jus 2 weeks to go,so I'm posting them here.
Series of CAT Gyan...6 of them.

CAT GYAN #1

When you take CAT, what makes a crucial difference in determining whether you
crack CAT and get into the IIM s or not is how quick you can attempt questions.

One of the key observations that might throw light on CAT cracking methodologies is that - in most cases students spend about 60% of the time in quant and DI section on calculations. If you can make a difference to your calculation speed, even if it is marginal, it will make a substantial difference to your getting into an IIM. After all people make it to the cut off by a margin of 0.25 marks.

We will intersperse our question a day with a fast calculation tip every now and then and about 5 exercise problems for each method. Practice speed calculation whenever you have to calculate anything. Engineers particularly,should try and throw their fx 100 calculators away, at least, for the time being. And commerce graduates do not go anywhere near your calculators for the next 6 months.

CAT GYAN #2

For those of you who are serious about CAT - I think its a 20 week race from this point. A small piece of advice from an old hat

1. Take a day off from your regular schedule this week and take a representative diagnostic test.

2. Check out where you stand -- identify your weak and strong points.

3. Start identifying ways to minimize the impact of your weak points - if its math - work out a chapter by chapter strategy and start cracking them systematically - remember the math in CAT is not one of rocket science. It is eminently crackable - only that it needs some hard and more importantly a lot of smart work.

4. For those of you with little or no reading experience - RC could come a cropper - start reading extensively from today - always carry a book with you - even if it is a thriller or a romantic Mills and Boon - read, read, read...

5. If you are still in college, it might be a good idea to form a small team of 2 to 3 like minded people and have a healthy competition. This small study circle will also help you share work load in cracking techniques in different chapters. While one could find out all short cuts in Percentages, the other person might be able to have the meanings and usages of common Latin and French words. Co-opetition is the latest management buzz word.

6. Unlike semester exams or month end sales targets, CAT needs sustained effort - so start today. It still is not too late. I started my preparation in late August 1991 - CAT was in the second sunday of December then. And I was working for L&T at Ballard Estate in Bombay and staying in a Chummery acco in Malad (It is a 34 km one way travel everyday - roughly 3 hours in travel). And I managed calls from B, C and L. I could have worked harder - but then I suppose it was short sighted ambition. Do not let that happen to you. Do not come up with excuses such as -- semester exam, project work, no time -- if you have the determination to crack CAT, you will.

7. There are already over 10,000 excuses for not cracking CAT. May be you can add a few more. But remember, the only reason you will be into an IIM is because you badly wanted to be there.

8. Finally, if you do not believe that you have it in you to crack CAT, do not even attempt CAT. Believing that you can make it is the first step to getting there.

I wish you all success in your CAT exam. I hope this forum helps you in achieving your career dreams.